Biography

Schumer grew up in Brooklyn. Valedictorian of his high-school class, he earned a then perfect 1,600 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. He attended Harvard University, where he studied political science (B.A., 1971) and law (J.D., 1974). Although Schumer passed the New York State bar exam in 1975, he did not pursue a legal career.

U.S. senators: mapInteractive map of the United States showing each state's senators and their party membership.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

In 1974 Schumer was elected to the New York State Assembly. When he took office the following year, the 24-year-old became the assembly’s youngest member since Theodore Roosevelt. In 1980 Schumer married Iris Weinshall, and the couple later had two children. That year he also successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1981 to 1999.

During his years in the House, he became known both as a leader of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and as a highly effective advocate of legislation combating violent crime. Schumer introduced the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993) and was a leading supporter of the Violence Against Women Act (1994), the former of which imposed mandatory background checks on the sales of handguns. He also cowrote a law that banned the private ownership of assault weapons.

In 1998 Schumer was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Alfonse D’Amato with nearly 55 percent of the vote. After taking office in 1999, he continued to advance liberal causes. He took a strong interest in trade and consumer-protection matters and was a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage and abortion rights. Also active in health care issues, he was a key supporter of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010), helping steer it through committee and to passage. In 2016 Schumer was elected to succeed Harry Reid as minority leader of the Senate; he was to assume the post when the new Congress convened in January 2017.